Aonuma Visits Treehouse Live

Aonuma visited the Treehouse Live set and mentioned that he created the game to break conventions of what a Zelda game is. They’re going to try not to spoil too much of anything in the game.

The live gameplay demo shows Link floating in a tub inside some mechanical, almost alien-looking, contraption. It almost looks like he was in cryogenic sleep. He’s in the Shrine of Resurrection, and there are all sorts of glowing mechanical contraptions. Link is awoken by a woman’s voice who tells him to take the Sheikah Slate, a mysterious tablet that will help Link in his quest. It looks like they’re merging technology with the world of Zelda. The first thing Link finds in a treasure box is an old shirt. The second chest has some well-worn pants. To get out of the starting area, Link must use his Sheikah Slate to activate a pedestal to open the door. Sunlight beams into the dark place and steps lead up and out into the world.

The woman’s voice says, “Link you are the light. Our light! That must shine upon the world again. Now go!” Link can now jump and go up walls. He scurries across the Cliffside to look at the vast land sprawled across the horizon. The camera pans over to a building in the distance. The overworld is called Great Plateau and is where the E3 demo takes place. The first item Link can pick up is a stick and also some Hylian Shrooms. Looks like there will be lots of items in the environment to pick up. Link can scale any mountains and walls. Link has a stamina gauge, which will limit how far he can climb.

Link can even push boulders down hills to take out enemies and clear paths. Link climbs a tree to grab some apples. The woman talks to Link through the Sheikah Tablet and marks on his map where to go. The first person Link encounters is an Old Man, harkening back to the original Zelda game where you talk to the guy in the first cave. You can light the tree branch on fire to burn shrubs and other items. Right away Link can grab an axe to chop down trees to create firewood and later use to set a campfire. There are a lot of items in this first area to pick up. It appears that items and weapons have an attack value. As Link picked up a rusty sword it had attack of 5 versus his axe, which was an attack of 3.

The freedom of the world is immediate. There are vast areas to just run around in and you can cut grass like always. Link comes across some Moblins in a camp. They attack with clubs and sticks. Link picks up a pot lid to use as a shield. As Link strikes down an enemy, his rusty sword broke. Items have durability and will deteriorate as used. The idea is that you battle enemies and then take their weapons to use as your own.

Can eat mushrooms and apples to regain health. Link stumbles across the Temple of Time, but its in ruins. It appears that this game might take place many years later as most areas look destroyed. Lack of music in this area is noticeable as you can hear the wilderness around you – like the wind and the birds and the insects. Small music cues occasionally play as you progress.

In prior Zelda trailers, including the first shown, there were big Guardian enemies that chased after Link. Here they have been destroyed and are in pieces. Obviously there has been a time jump from that first trailer and what we are seeing in this demo. Perhaps time travel will once again play a key component in this game.

This game’s story will be revealed by exploring. This way you can go at your own pace. The environments and world are inspired by Japanese animation. The visuals are very much designed to look like an interactive cartoon. The visuals are designed to look like “open air painting” where an artist will go outside and paint the environment around him. The music is also used sparingly because the users will be able to explore at their own paces. The music will be blended into the game at key moments. The piano background music has been designed to strike a chord in peoples’ emotions and to match the nature around them.

The demo being shown at E3 will have a time limit. Treehouse Live forgot to disable the time limit and so Bill had to start over from the beginning. Oops! Apparently there won’t be any story spoilers throughout the streams today, so feel free to watch.

We will update more throughout the day as we learn more! So far I’m completely psyched and excited for this game. Simply can’t wait for it to release as the game world looks so fun to explore.